O'Reilly Apologizes After Predicting SCOTUS Would Strike Down Mandate

Back in March, Bill O’Reilly proclaimed that the Supreme Court would not uphold the individual mandate in President Obama‘s Affordable Care Act. If proven wrong, he said he would “apologize for being an idiot.” On Monday night, he did just that, conceding that he failed to take into account Chief Justice John Roberts‘ taxation argument.

After playing the clip in which he’d promised an apology, O’Reilly offered it thusly:

I’m not really sorry, but I am a man of my word, so I apologize for not factoring in the John Roberts situation. Truthfully, I never in a million years would thought the chief justice would go beyond the scope of the commerce clause to date and into taxation. I may be an idiot for not considering that.

Bernie Goldberg chimed in saying O’Reilly made a “big, loud prediction” — so naturally he’s being pounced on for an apology. But it’s not for journalistic reasons, he said, it’s for entertainment. O’Reilly noted that Howard Kurtz, who took note of said promise, “does the bidding for Media Matters.” He knows Media Matters is “in the business to hurt people” with whom they disagree, O’Reilly said, “yet he empowers them.” He added, “I don’t like that.”